More Current Affairs:

Program Archive:

PM covers a broad spectrum of issues relevant to all sections of Australia's geographically and culturally diverse community. It looks behind political, economic, industrial, business, social, cultural, rural, regional and arts stories. Below is the program summary with links to transcripts and audio (if available).

Coroner crticises Australian Grand Prix organisers

Victoria's Coroner has criticised Australian Grand Prix organisers over a high speed collision which left a track marshall dead last year. Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One racing organisation also comes in for flak. Official witnesses had portrayed the incident as a freakish mishap, but the coroner found the accident was not only avoidable, there was an obvious and practical solution. The coroner found that grand prix officials had been aware that gaps in the track fence at Albert Park posed a risk to marshals, but they failed to do enough monitoring of safety systems.

Ariel Sharon's Washington visit

The Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is becoming more isolated by the day and it seems that's the way both George W Bush and Israel's Ariel Sharon like it. Mr Sharon is in Washington to persuade the Americans that the campaign against the Palestinian leader must continue and the President obviously needs no urging. Mr Bush blamed Arafat for a recent shipment of illegal arms, and said the United States would keep up pressure on the Palestinian Authority chairman to crack down on violence. The President also announced that his Vice President Dick Cheney would visit the Middle East next month.

Yasser Arafat no longer a player in Washington

While President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon were discussing prospects for the Middle East - Yasser Arafat was still confined to base in Ramallah, looking on but no longer a player in Washington.

BHP Billiton withdraws from Ok Tedi copper mine in PNG

Mining giant BHP-Billiton has today finally withdrawn from its troubled Ok Tedi copper mine in Papua New Guinea. The company will hand its 52 per cent stake in the mine to a development fund. In return it'll get protection from any further blame for environmental damage. Environmental activists are furious at the move, they say the company should clean up its mess. But in an exclusive interview with PM, BHP-Billiton chief Paul Anderson says he would have closed the mine if the community hadn't wanted to keep it open.

Telstra boosts cost of Internet access to Victorian schools

Telstra is at it again...this time increasing the cost of internet access to Victorian schools by thousands of dollars a year. Labor's communications spokesman Lindsay Tanner says the fee hikes would see small schools going from $200 a year - to more than $2,000. He says the only way to stop Telstra increasing costs further and cutting services - is for the community to begin fighting back.

Telstra denies it is letting the community down

Telstra dismisses arguments that schools should get cheaper access on principle, by saying its pricing for Victorian school is in line with commercial rates. And the communication giant says some schools have already accepted the new prices.

South Australian election eve

After November's federal election, only a fool would bet on the predictions of some of the pollsters, but for what it's worth, tomorrow's South Australian poll is showing up as another neck and neck race. In the final days of the campaign the Liberals have seen their lead whittled away. That's upped Labor hopes that Mike Rann will give the ALP a full hand of Premierships across every state.

Link found between health problems and alcoa emissions

In Western Australia, people in the town of Wagerup are feeling vindicated after an independent committee found a link between their health problems and emissions from an aluminium plant nearby. Alcoa's technology at the plant involves dissolving aluminium from crushed bauxite while organics are removed in a process known as liquor-burning. The people of Wagerup have been complaining about a variety of conditions including headaches, nausea, fatigue and burning eyes, nose and throats. The state's Health Department has now linked those problems to emissions from the plant - and the Department of Environmental Protection wants action.

Firefighters overtake Sydney's streets for ticker tape parade

Sydney's streets today were full of fire engines and firefighters, normally an odd sight in a city that's just endured the best part of ten days of drenching rain. But it was a different sort of extreme that brought the firefighters today, the dry heat over Christmas that provided perfect tinder for some of the State's worst ever bushfires. Today's parade was Sydney's thank you to men and women who gave up their Christmas holidays to battle some of the worst fires in the state's history.

Finance Report

A report on today's developments on the finance and share markets.

PM sightseeing in Indonesia

John Howard is on his way back to Canberra after winding up the Indonesian leg of his international trip with a little bit of cultural tourism. After negotiating around the sensitivities of some Indonesian politicians in the past few days, the Prime Minister may have welcomed the opportunity of spending some time with Buddhist Statues at Borobodur.